stylish blogger award

I've been given an award! I'm so honored. Elizabeth from The Mustard Ceiling and Carrie from Hazardous Design honored me with the Stylish Blogger Award. Thanks ladies!

As the tradition goes, I have to share seven things about me that you may not know. (Coming up with this list was harder than I imagined.)

1. I am originally from South Africa. My family emigrated to the States when I was 5 years old, and we've been here ever since.

2. A couple of years ago, I had my own boutique Home Staging business. It was supposed to be a side-job while being a stay-at-home mom, but it turned out to be a bit more time-consuming. It was fun while it lasted, though.

3. I would love to have an etsy shop one day. (I just have to figure out what I would sell.)

4. We just bought an Airstream trailer!! (I plan on posting photos soon.)

5. This is one of my all-time favorite books.

6. I would love to learn about flower arranging.

7. My 20-year high school reunion is coming up this summer, and I haven't decided yet if I will go.


 

Now is the fun part. I get to pass the award on to several of my favorite bloggers. I'd like to share this award with

Heather at REOlistic Renovation

NK at Style-ING w/Children

NewlyWoodwards

Jana at Dressing Up Mutton to Look Like Lamb

Happy reading everyone!



on schedule

This is what I was afraid of. Everything happening at once.

Back in January, John and I were twiddling our thumbs, just dying to get the renovations underway. I was trying to tackle as many mini-projects as I could, as well as paint the one room that would remain 'untouched,'  because I knew that the day would come when I would be spread too thin.

That day has come. I am stressed and overwhelmed.

I need time to stand still so that I can catch up. Because right now, I feel like I'm 3 days behind schedule.

At least the framing seems to be on schedule.

Maybe I just need a good night's sleep, and I'll feel less stressed in the morning. Here's hoping.

bay area bound

We're headed out of town this weekend. The kids have both Friday and Monday off from school, so we're taking advantage of the 4-day weekend.





We're heading home to the Bay Area. The Bay Area is where we moved from, just 7 months ago. Besides visiting friends and family, John and I have some *local* errands to run:

• IKEA
• West Elm
• Target

IKEA is the biggie. There are several things we want to check out for future projects.

• Kitchen cabinets. At this point, we just want to rule them in or out. We want to know if IKEA has viable options when we start shopping for kitchen cabinetry.
• Area rugs. I'm currently looking for an area rug for 7's room, but we will need various rugs for other areas of the house. Of course, this will be after we lay new flooring throughout the entire house...
• Ceramic planters/pots. I'm just curious. I'm a big fan of indoor plants, and I want to see what they have to offer.
• Components for a play kitchen. I have been wanting to build a play kitchen for 4 for so long! Her birthday is in May, and I would love to build her a custom kitchen for her room. Maybe I'm overreaching, but we'll see. I'm particularly inspired by the play kitchen below.

image via

John doesn't know (yet) but I also want to make a stop at West Elm. I doubt I'll buy anything, but I want to look. These are the items that have caught my eye.


ceramic planters for my indoor plants


I have loved this mirror for a very, very long time.


I am in love with air plants.
3 images from West Elm


Have a good weekend, everyone. I'm outta here for the next few days!

appetite for destruction

Let's be honest. I've been going stir-crazy lately, wanting to get started on our renovation plans. I'm tired of waiting for permit approval, and I'm tired of feeling like nothing is happening.

If it seems like we've been doing nothing but dreaming about new front doors and fencing, it's not true. Actually, we have been doing quite a bit of destruction demolition.

Demo #1: Removed the unnecessary shed-like structure.

here today...

gone tomorrow.

Demo #2: Removed a wooden step inside the garage.



After John jackhammered the garage floor, he had new plumbing put in for the new laundry location. After the new plumbing, John patched the concrete...



and then finished the patch with self-leveling Finish Coat.



Demo #3: Carpet removal

My personal ongoing project...

4's room

the hallway

front entry

You can see that we have been busy. Trying to make {small} progress before the real progress begins...

happiest place in america

image via

Have you heard the news?

San Luis Obispo is the happiest place in America. Yup, that's right. According to best-selling author Dan Buettner, SLO ranks #1 in happiness.

If I was tech-savvy, I would embed a video right here. Unfortunately, I ain't that savvy so you'll just have to click this link for the goodness.

it's a small world

Check out the mini vintage globe bank I got for 7's room.

Adorable, no?

an update on the contractors

image via

Some of you may be saying, "So that's really nice and all, Karen. So glad you started ripping up carpet and painting rooms and such, but when does the real work begin?"

Here's the skinny:

The Permit
I dropped off the paperwork for the permit on Dec. 21st. I was told that it would take 3 - 4 weeks to hear back. So any day now...

***updated 1/26: We got our permit back, but there are 15 corrections we need to address.***

***updated 2/3: Architect working on revisions. She should be turning them back in to the city tomorrow.

Contractor #1
Same company that drew our design plans. Although we were extremely happy with their design services, we were bummed that it took them more than a month to give us a bid for the renovation.
Verdict: Too expensive + we are clearly not a priority.

Contractor #2
A referral from our realtor. He was very nice but after thoroughly viewing the plans, he admitted that he really is a "one-man" team and that our job was too big for him. We appreciated his honesty.

Contractor #3
A referral from an acquaintenance. He is very motivated, and we will get his bid in a couple of days. Only drawback is that we haven't seen any of his work (yet.)

***updated 1/26: We received #3's bid.***

Contractor #4
A referral from a friend. We have seen his work and he's good. John met with him yesterday and he has a set of plans, so we should hear back from him soon.

***updated 2/3: We have his bid.***


Contractor #5
A referral from same friend as above. We just heard back from him via phone. John will probably meet with him Friday or Saturday.

***update 1/26: John met with him last week. Waiting to hear back from them.***

***updated 2/3: We have his bid.***

So there you go.
That's what is happening 'round here.

very little progress

If it looks like we haven't made much any progress with the house, that's because we haven't. But it isn't because we've been twiddling our thumbs and spending days at the beach.

Well. You got me. There were some days at the beach. But we live in a beach town -- what did you expect?!

But we have a good excuse.

No, really.

The house closed escrow at the end of October. We immediately hired an architect to draw renovation plans.

Unfortunately, it took much longer than we anticipated for the architect to finish the plans. We expected to have the finished plans and permit approval by the beginning of December.

It wasn't meant to be.

We managed to barely submit our plans to City Planning before they closed for the holidays. I was told that it usually takes 3 - 4 weeks to get permit approval. And since we were submitting our plans just days before Christmas, it was probably going to take us the full four weeks.

In the meantime, we've been going a little stir crazy wanting to get started.

Here was our dilemna: Where were we to begin?

Many of the rooms and spaces are going to be affected and/or altered. Not all, but many of the existing walls are going to be affected in some way or another.

The areas of the house that we have left to work with are:

• 7's bedroom
  
• downstairs bathroom
  
• closet in master bedroom
  
• garage

I'm getting started in 7's bedroom. John has the lovely job of working on the garage. More details on that later.